A second Israeli envoy arrived in Cairo on Sunday on board a private plane coming from Tel Aviv. The visit, to last several hours, is intended to calm the diplomatic fallout between Israel and Egypt that resulted from Thursday’s killing of Egyptian soldiers at the hands of Israeli forces.
The arrival of the second envoy came minutes after the departure of the first envoy, who had secretly arrived earlier the same day.
The second envoy will meet with officials to discuss ways of containing the deterioration in relations between Egypt and Israel in the aftermath of the attack.
Yasser Reda, Egypt's ambassador to Israel, said he was not told to leave Tel Aviv against the backdrop of the attack. He added that there were no demonstrations outside the Egyptian Embassy, or any harassment from the Israeli side, while declining to disclose the content of recent communications he held with the Israeli government.
Israeli radio earlier in the day quoted an official as saying that Israel was in communication with Egypt’s security and political echelons in order to ease tensions, avoid escalation and maintain good relations with Cairo.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Crisis Management Ministerial Committee discussed the Israeli statement of regret announced on Saturday. It said that although the statement was a positive sign, it was not commensurate with the gravity of the incident and Egyptians’ anger against Israeli actions.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
